Thursday, July 10, 2014

It seems, Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo has
stirred up a hornet’s nest by claiming—women can’t have-it-all. Working
women from all corners of life are now bashing her up for her brutal honesty.
The first time when I read the interview, I was so taken by it that I shared it
on Facebook right away. I loved her honesty when she claimed that there were
times when she had been a bad mother—a term which I use every day for myself
when I leave my 2-year old for office. For those who have been living under a
rock, in the Aspen Ideas Festival when reporter David Bradley asked her the
age-old question whether women can truly have it all, this was her response:

I don't think women can have it all. I just don't
think so. We pretend we have it all. We pretend we can have it all... Every day
you have to make a decision about whether you are going to be a wife or a
mother, in fact many times during the day you have to make those decisions...
We plan our lives meticulously so we can be decent parents. But if you ask our
daughters, I'm not sure they will say that I've been a good mom. I'm not sure.

I would call that impressive. Not just that, it also made
me realize no one has it easy in life. I loved the fact that she
gave us a peep into her life in not so many words. We working women are always
facing this dilemma of how to attain a work-life balance. There are days when
things are smooth, and then there are some when it could have been better. By
accepting that probably she did not give enough time to her daughters while
they were growing up is probably a reflection of a remorse that she maybe harbouring inside,
or maybe not (I am not psychologist), but atleast she said it out loud.

Besides this current jargon of having it all is
all Hebrew to me. What defines having it all? That word is too
idealistic to be true. We all know, career and motherhood can go
hand-in-hand, our mothers had done it. There will always be glitches in life
and every one faces it be it men or women, single or married, working-mom or
homemaker. I am surprised with the people’s reaction. The hate blogs and
articles that are cropping on the wake of this interview are mostly from
working women—where they are boasting about how easily they have been managing
both sides of the coin.

But when bloggers claim Nooyi is endorsing working
woman as bad mothers, I vehemently disagree because her interview was an honest
reflection of what she has to deal with, and how many times have we heard a
person of her stature speak up about their shortcomings in such a matter-of-fact way (she could have said
the same in guise of humor and satire). Her interview was not about the archaic
war between stay-at-home and working moms.

Life is tough, and we are constantly making
decisions and choices, sometimes we succeed, other times we fail, but in the
process we grow as a human and try to survive each day the best we know
how. The world is increasingly becoming less tolerant and opinionated. Let’s
not shred someone for letting us peep into their life. Embrace it, take the
good, eliminate the bad, and move on.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

A close friend of mine is getting married, and I am helping her shop after
office. Well! And as we know shopping and binging goes hand in hand, I can see
the repercussion of it in my belly already. It doesn’t matter that I resolute
to go on GM diet every morning? I seriously recent those who have such a good
metabolism, I ve often seen thin people eat a lot more than the fatso. That’s
so unfair, don’t you think? Now this GM diet is making me smugger. I know I can
lose up to 5 kgs in a week, so ideally I can lose the flab any day. But I know
it’s easier said than done.

Today, I met this exceptionally beautiful new joinie in the office. She is 5
feet 11 inches tall URGGHHHH, with long straight hair, porcelain skin, beautiful face and a
figure to die for During lunch she told me how she has never visited a Gym in
her life or ever diet for that matter. I was sitting with her and thinking God
has truly blessed her with this part. But the best part was to know how
grounded she turned out to be, she had no airs about herself, no idea
whatsoever about the effect she is having on the surrounding (the moment she walked inside the cafeteria,
the whole cafeteria stood up. And that’s not an exaggeration.

I couldn’t help asking her— had she tried modeling— She said: she didn’t, as
her parents are pretty conservative, and how his father is spouse hunting for
her, and unable to find a good match because of her height. That made me smile. Her father was
evidently driving her up against the wall, she looked pissed yet she was
kind of amusing, yet simple, honest and not to forget gorgeous.